January 8

What Is Happening to the Cities?

“STRIKE! Strike! Strike!” The masculine voices that filled San Francisco’s legislative chambers with that chant belonged to policemen, who had never before in the city’s history done so.

Before that cloudy August Monday in 1975 gave way to dawn, two officers were hit by an irate motorist’s car and another was beaten with a baseball bat. Sniper fire rained down on others, precipitating the spectacle of police officers shooting out street lights to avoid being lighted targets. And from parking violations to murder, people took advantage of the absence of police.

Behind this turmoil, and an equally threatening firemen’s strike, was a massive top-level disagreement among mayor, city supervisors, police and fire officers: What share of spiraling city salaries and other costs should the officers get, and should public-safety officers have a right to strike over the issue?

“An entire city was kidnapped and held for ransom,” commented New York Times columnist William Saire. “The ransom was paid, and now the extortionists patrol the city’s streets, making sure nobody else breaks the law.”

On the other hand, public-employee unions in a growing number of cities say that, regrettably, there is no other way to achieve that to which they feel they are entitled. Thus, crippling strikes of municipal employees, though illegal in many places, hit city after city as contracts come due.

Money Squeeze

Underlying these visible symptoms, there are much deeper problems. Many big cities in the U.S. and in other countries are being squeezed in what has been termed a “financial vise”: On the one hand, soaring pay demands of highly organized public employees plus skyrocketing costs of everything a city has to buy, and, on the other hand, swelling numbers of poor city dwellers who require more and more services even though city income is waning.

This “financial vise” tightened early last year into a death grip on the so-called “financial capital of the world,” New York city. City spending had more than tripled in ten years. Even after slashing thousands of city jobs and frantic fund-raising activities by the hastily formed Municipal Assistance Corporation, the city remained under threat of financial collapse from week to week. And when New York State stepped in to help, its own financial integrity immediately began to crumble.

Economic shock waves spread rapidly. The financial journal Business Week declared:

“New York City’s problems are poisoning the well for everybody. . . . Already, states and cities​—even those not in financial distress—​are encountering difficulties borrowing, and paying higher prices when they do. . . . many states and cities may find themselves sliding inexorably into New York City’s dilemma: either cut spending and services . . . or see their increasingly shaky financial scaffolding collapse around their ears.”

Agonized cries for federal help raised this question in another journal of finance: “Uncle Sam can bail out New York, but who will ball out Uncle Sam?” (Forbes magazine, July 1, 1975, p. 42) The U.S. federal government already owes its creditors almost twice as much as it takes in annually from taxes, while New York city owes little more than a year’s income!

Furthermore, much of the world’s economic system is similarly founded upon layer after layer of credit. And many analysts believe that New York reflects the world’s credit structure in miniature. “Credit is faith,” noted a New York official. “Faith lies in the ability of a borrower to repay. If a major borrower like New York doesn’t, that affects credit transactions everywhere.”

Behind this far-reaching financial dilemma are numerous deep-rooted city problems that refuse to go away. Creeping urban “ghettos” hasten the flight of the “middle class” to the suburbs, public employees grow more militant, welfare rolls spiral, housing decays, pollution pervades and crime and violence thrive. Such problems tend to concentrate in big cities far more than higher population alone accounts for, and they are inexorably worsening in many of them.

A Worldwide Disease

“New York just got hit first,” said Mayor Henry W. Maier of Milwaukee. “All large cities are in the trend New York is in. It’s a matter of time.” And U.S. cities are not alone. Japan’s Daily Yomiuri, for example, reports that hundreds of cities in that nation are “on the verge of ‘bankruptcy’ with snowballing expenditures.”​—October 5, 1975, p. 2.

The scope of the world’s big-city problems is indicated by the fact that 116 cities world wide have entered the “million” population category in the twenty-five years since 1950, while it took all the centuries until then to produce just seventy-five cities that large. These metropolises are sprouting up fastest in “third world” countries that can least afford them. Many reflect, not only problems that face Western cities, but also others unique to their own culture.

“Already up to a third of the people living in Manila, Caracas, Kinshasa, and Cairo are not citizens but illegal squatters, living in tents, tin shacks or waterless, drainless hovels,” reports the Milwaukee Journal. “The experts see no alternative to the slums and shantytowns becoming the dominant form of city life in many countries before 1980.”

A look back, though, reveals that city life was often quite different in the past. Kunle Akinsemoyin writes in the Lagos, Nigeria, Sunday Times: “I can well remember when Lagos Island was the pride of Nigeria. That was in my boyhood days some 40 or more years ago. . . . people were friendly, helpful, well-mannered and hospitable.” Now he says sadly that his home city is “fast gaining the reputation of being one of the filthiest capitals in the world.”

Many of you older city dwellers may find that you are identifying yourselves with Mr. Akinsemoyin’s reflections. Why is it that many formerly vibrant centers of civilization are facing serious setbacks? Is there something fundamentally wrong with big cities?

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CAUGHT IN THE MONEY SQUEEZE

CITY HALL

EMPLOYEE WAGES

COST OF SOCIAL SERVICES

Why Big Cities Are Breaking Down

BACK in 1913, the English sociologist Patrick Geddes theorized that big cities go through five stages:

1. Polis​—early city

2. Metropolis​—large but healthy city

3. Megalopolis​—unhealthy, oversized city with grand illusions

4. Parasitopolis​—parasitic city that drains its nation

5. Pathopolis​—diseased, shrinking, dying city

Many see cities like New York as having symptoms of the fourth stage, as having already begun to leech strength from the nation. Others fear that aspects of the final stage are also evident. A cancerlike municipal disease​—creeping urban decay—​is even now shrinking the hearts out of many American cities, as middle- and upper-income families flee to the suburbs.

The populations within the taxable bounds of some American big cities are actually shrinking to “their lowest size in this century,” according to recent census information. “The populations of Boston, Pittsburgh and Jersey City haven’t been so low since 1900. . . . New York’s population is down almost to the level of 1940.”​—U.S. News & World Report, September 1, 1975, p. 64.

Driven by a growing distaste for big-city existence, taxpaying citizens, business and industry are fleeing out of the big “central city” areas to noncontributing suburbs and beyond. A sore point in San Francisco’s police strike, for example, was that more than half of those demanding higher pay lived outside the bounds of its taxpaying community. And even though New York’s taxable population has fallen to well under eight million, some estimate that as many as another ten million people living outside the city in some way derive economic benefit from it.

A Vicious Cycle

Hence, a self-perpetuating “vicious cycle” of lost taxpayers, higher taxes, more lost taxpayers, and so on, has developed. When the more prosperous families and industries move out, taking taxes and jobs with them, the poor, unemployed, aged and minorities least able to pay taxes remain. Said Milwaukee’s Mayor Maier: “We, along with other cities, are part of a deepening trend . . . toward an ever-growing concentration of the poor and the relatively poor in the central cities of America.”

Meanwhile, regular city services, as well as programs for the mounting numbers of poor and unemployed, continue to skyrocket in cost. As New York city’s spending for all purposes tripled during the past ten years, welfare costs grew at almost twice that pace!

To compensate, cities raise taxes on remaining property owners, business and industry​—an encouragement for them, too, to leave. San Francisco has been forced to more than quadruple average property taxes since 1950​—a pace double that of the rise in the cost of living.

But such high taxation makes owning housing a losing proposition for some, and this, in turn, hastens urban decay. New York apartment owners will reportedly abandon an estimated 50,000 dwelling units in 1976, after having abandoned about 35,000 units annually in recent years! Not only are taxes on these properties lost to the city, but gone also are the former residents of block after block of rubble-covered land and condemned buildings​—thus feeding the “vicious cycle.”

When highly taxed business and industry choose to leave as well, tax revenue is not the only thing taken. Since 1969, for example, it is reported that New York city steadily lost half a million manufacturing jobs​—and taxpaying workers—​due to business moves. But the alternative to higher taxes, say city officials, is cutbacks in city services. Such cutbacks make the big cities even less desirable​—driving more “middle class” and industrial taxpayers away.

Thus urban problems tend to concentrate in big cities and get driven out of proportion to what higher populations alone account for. But there are other pressures that also enter this “vicious cycle’’ of big-city economic problems. Among them are . . .

. . . Minorities

Big cities tend to stack up minorities and economically deprived persons all together in older, decaying housing and “low-rent projects,” or, in some countries, shantytowns of their own making. The effects of concentrating minorities in this fashion are well known. A report from Sweden, for example, notes that the area surrounding her big-city “urban renewal” projects are “traditionally a decaying slum-zone, where the socially and economically handicapped and newly arrived immigrants are allotted to live. These areas become haunts of alcoholic and narcotics addicts”​—as well as a drain on city resources.

The growth of black and other ethnic communities in American cities has created intractable housing problems. Deep-rooted prejudices and fears sped the exodus of whites to the suburbs, creating another big-city problem: de facto segregation. Well-intentioned efforts to give blacks equal educational opportunities by “busing” pupils between the two communities have met with only limited success, while driving many whites even farther into the suburbs and beyond.

. . . Crime

Bad housing and cramped populations tend to breed far more crime, on the average, in big cities than normally affects outlying areas. West Germany, for example, reports an average of nearly twice as many persons affected by crime in densely populated areas as in the country as a whole. Yet almost three times as many police, on the average, are assigned to protect those same city people! Can you see why many prefer to “escape” from the big cities?

Overburdened big-city courts have actually spurred the “vicious cycle” of metropolitan crime problems. The concentration of crime produces so many cases that the process of “plea bargaining” has come to be viewed as an absolute necessity in many U.S. cities. Criminals are allowed to plead guilty to lesser offenses than first charged so that massive numbers of time-consuming trials can be avoided. As a result, criminals​—even murderers—​are often back on city streets in short order.

. . . Militant Public Employees

As crime mounts and cities decay, more police and firemen are needed, as are more employees to take care of swelling welfare and other programs. Before recent cuts, for example, the number of New York city employees had grown from about 200,000 to over 300,000 in fifteen years​—yet the city’s population had hardly changed!

Public-safety employees such as police and firemen, and even garbage men, in order to compensate for the increased dangers they face, as well as to offset the rise in the cost of living, have used the absolute necessity of their services as a powerful bargaining tool to gain higher wages and benefits. The mere threat of chaos without their services has usually driven their wages up far faster than those of most other workers. For example, while living costs rose to about two and a quarter times their 1950 level in twenty-five years, wages and benefits of San Francisco police and firemen multiplied to about seven times their 1950 level! Many other cities have been just as liberal​—but someone has to pay the bill.

. . . Pollution

Those who flee to the suburbs to escape pollution and other city problems have actually added to the problem. Traffic moving into the big cities for work is becoming “heavier and heavier, moving slower and slower,” notes a recent report from Sweden that is typical of many cities. Mass-transportation schemes have accomplished little to check pollution. “The persistent traffic tie-ups shatter a dream of urban planners​—that rapid transit would ‘get people out of their cars and off the freeway.’”​—New York Times Magazine, October 19, 1975, p. 84.

A National Academy of Sciences report notes that even though U.S. federal standards have brought some improvement, country air still remains ‘far superior to most city air.’ The concentration of industry adds much to big-city pollution. But cities need industries for jobs and revenue. To survive, many recession-plagued businesses are seeking a slowdown of costly-to-meet air-quality standards, thus keeping pollution in the “vicious cycle’’ of city decay.

. . . Dehumanizing People

Squeezing humanity together in great masses seems to accentuate the worst in many people. Rather than close quarters bringing them together in warm personal relationships, just the opposite is too often the case. A report from London tells of “sick and elderly people dying alone in their apartments and not being found for weeks afterward, because no one ever visited them.” The report adds: “This would have been absolutely impossible twenty years ago.” Other big-city dwellers know that London is not unique in this matter.

Cooped up in cramped apartments and narrow city streets, children, too, suffer. They lose much of the joy of openness, discovery and interacting with nature found in more rural environments. Destroying, crushing and breaking things are often the way they satisfy the need for excitement and experience. The consequent vandalism and graffiti bring further deterioration to the cities, and more seeds of crime are planted.

Thus many of the world’s big cities are caught up in a vicious cycle of degenerating forces that seem to feed upon themselves, ever worsening. But are not the big-city governments working to improve matters?

City Government

“No American big city is well-governed today,” asserts Milton Rakove, professor of political science at the University of Illinois, “and it is unlikely that any big city could be, given the kinds of problems confronting our cities, the demands being made on their political and governmental systems, and the inability of those systems to cope with those demands.”​—New York Times, October 23, 1975, p. 39.

Lack of permanent, stable leadership hampers many big-city governments. Says Business Week of one floundering city: “It is directed by elected officials who, because of the nature of politics, often have a ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ philosophy of management.”

Such transient leadership may even have a corrosive effect on the habits of municipal employees, whose productivity is said to be below that of other workers. Extra workers have to be paid to get the same job done, further draining city finances. Why? An official of one of the largest municipal-employee unions in the U.S. put it this way: “When the municipal worker discovers the city isn’t interested in how he does his job, he loses interest too. . . . We want to feel we’re disciplined. Discipline means somebody cares. What we need is leadership.”

Rather than truly caring, the tendency of many politically motivated officials is to “throw money” at city problems in the hope that they will go away. Failing to get to the heart of the problems, their superficial, money-oriented programs often swell to huge proportions and suck the lifeblood from cities. The disastrous consequences of such policies are now being felt in a number of the world’s big cities.

Even so, most national governments stand ready to “bail out” cities in trouble, thus transferring the strain to the entire nation. So it would be an exaggeration to say that all big cities are facing imminent economic collapse. Some may even appear to be coping with matters. But time is not on their side.

The plight of many big cities today might well be described by this report on the condition of those in Britain:

“Their fabric is tattered and torn. Their services generally are diminishing in scope and effectiveness at a time when more is being demanded of them. It is unlikely that the national government will refuse to ‘bail out’ cities which become as bankrupt as New York. So it seems likely that the cities will struggle on, with ever less effective services at an ever greater cost. Standards of living will continue to fall as will life values in the cities. Life in the cities, like the traffic, will likely grind on slower and slower.”

Does that mean that the pathopolis of Patrick Geddes’ theory​—the diseased, shrinking, dying city—​is the only course that lies down the road for today’s metropolises? Is there no solution for the big cities?

[Picture on page 6]

Owners abandon thousands of dwelling units yearly due to high taxes

The Only Remedy for City Troubles

NO, THE remedy for big-city troubles is not more money and give-away programs. That kind of “help” has only hastened the cities to their ruin. It does not reach the underlying problems. Municipal leaders have too often come to “look upon the ghetto as a walled enclave into which some money can be tossed to keep it quiet,” writes Sol Linowitz, president of America’s Federal City Council. “That view can only invite disaster.”

Then what is the remedy? Well, the experts say that some fundamental changes are needed. “[Municipal] bonds may help us avoid a financial crunch,” says Mr. Linowitz. “But we won’t have dealt with the central problems of our cities until we have learned how to devise another kind of bond one that will bind people together . . . in mutual trust and respect.”​—New York Times, October 25, 1975.

Additionally, a recent conference of several hundred prominent scientists, scholars and others at Houston, Texas, suggested another basic change. A number of the experts, it was reported, urged that, to avoid a “gloomy, catastrophic future . . . people should be given the incentive to return to rural areas from huge urban centers and be employed in smaller, more labor-intensive tasks.”​—U.S. News & World Report, November 3, 1975, p. 88.

But how soon do you think most city dwellers will ‘learn to devise bonds of mutual trust and respect’? Or, can you imagine the majority of business, industry and city folk willingly reverting to a less production-minded, convenience-oriented way of life? Even if political leaders should attempt such innovations, they would be stymied by forces beyond their control. Is the kind of farsighted leadership and power that it would take to make such far-reaching changes anywhere to be found?

Superior Direction Needed

Well, consider the Source of earth’s marvelously balanced and complex natural cycles. These cycles function flawlessly when men do not tamper with them. Is not the power and intelligence behind these obviously successful systems just the kind of direction that humans and their cities sorely need? That One can bring success to the human condition as well, because He is “the Former of the earth and the Maker of it, . . . who did not create it simply for nothing, who formed it even to be inhabited.”​—Isa. 45:18.

There can be no question that earth’s Maker designed it to be a happy, comfortable home for its inhabitants. However, they have rejected the Creator’s standards and veered from patterns of life that harmonize with his creation’s natural cycles into ever more artificial life-styles. But how can these seemingly “locked in” big-city patterns of living ever be changed?

Well, since the big-city way of life is part of a worldwide system of things that does not work, the only remedy is to replace it with a global system that does work for the benefit of all. Man’s Creator has purposed such a new system of management with the kind of farsighted leadership and power needed to make it a success. The Bible calls it the “kingdom of God,” and it is carried on by means of his Son Jesus Christ.​—Mark 1:15.

But such directing of earth’s affairs from heaven will obviously not be welcomed by either present power-hungry heads of state or proud city governments. That is why the Bible says that the Kingdom, for which we pray, “will not be passed on to any other people.” Rather, “it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms” before it successfully takes charge of earth’s affairs. Dan. 2:44.

A New Way of Life

Thus God’s kingdom will make a clean sweep of all vestiges of this failing system’s way of doing things. So differently will earth be managed that Bible prophecy pictures the changed human society then as being like an entirely “new earth.” It says that “death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”​—2 Pet. 3:7, 13; Rev. 21:1-5.

We can be sure that among former causes of outcry and pain that will pass away are the giant metropolises that jam people into row after row of multistoried concrete apartments, robbing them of sunlight, fresh air and privacy, and surrounding them with noise and irritation. Though we do not know the extent to which community living will prevail for that “new earth,” we do know that it will never again be allowed to become a source of oppression. There are some indications of this from God’s past dealings with humans.

After the earth was cleansed by the flood of Noah’s day, God repeated his original statement of purpose for humans on earth: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth.” Later on, that purpose was tested when men chose instead to concentrate in a big city. “Let us build ourselves a city,” they said, and “make a celebrated name for ourselves, for fear we may be scattered over all the surface of the earth.” God registered his disagreement with that way of doing things by taking actions that did scatter the would-be big-city builders “over all the surface of the earth.”​—Gen. 9:1; 11:4, 8.

Additionally, the inspired law that later governed the nation of Israel had provisions that were not encouraging to big-city living. Any person living in the small, unwalled settlements of Israel who sold his house, perhaps due to economic need, always had the unchallengeable right to repurchase it. And if the seller was unable to repurchase his home, it reverted to the family anyway when the Jubilee year came around every fifty years. On the other hand, those living in the larger walled cities retained the right of repurchase for only one year, after which the new owner held all claim to the property. Thus the more rural location was advantageous.​—Lev. 25:29-34.

In view of such expressions of God’s viewpoint, a more agricultural way of life will no doubt predominate for the soon-to-be-realized “new earth.” Bible prophecy portrays the kind of existence that God can provide in these words:

“They will certainly build houses and have occupancy; and they will certainly plant vineyards and eat their fruitage. . . . The work of their own hands my chosen ones will use to the full.”​—Isa. 65:17, 21, 22.

Then, too, even the attitudes of people will reflect their new environment and its righteous governing procedures when God ‘makes all things new.’ Mutual trust and respect will prevail, “for the earth will be filled with the knowing of the glory of Jehovah as the waters themselves cover over the sea.” This is the only true remedy for today’s troubled big cities.​—Rev. 21:5; Hab. 2:14.

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God’s kingdom will make a clean sweep of this failing system, transforming the earth into a global paradise

The Water You Drink

‘DRINKING WATER,’ once wrote Leonardo da Vinci, ‘can be health-giving, unwholesome, laxative, sulphurous, mournful, angry, red, yellow, green, black, blue, greasy, fat and thin.’

The water you drink today probably has few of these qualities. But even in our day about half a billion people are said to be constantly sick because of the water they drink. Ten million of them may die each year.

Surprisingly, even developed nations that take pride in their “safe” water are now having problems. Modern farming and industry are introducing a growing list of hard-to-remove and potentially hazardous chemicals into drinking-water sources. “It seems that everything that makes life easier makes water dirtier,” noted one U.S. expert at Senate hearings on the problem.

Life Depends on It

Despite these problems, water remains one of the most marvelous and absolutely essential substances known. The very existence of life itself on earth is based on it. In fact, water is the main ingredient of most living things. The human body has been described as a “virtual walking sack of precariously contained fluids.” About two thirds of your total weight is water, while as much as three fourths of your brain and muscles are.

From this it is obvious that life functions best within the narrow temperature range in which water exists as a liquid. Such an environment where life could exist is said to be practically nonexistent elsewhere in the universe. Though scientists speculate about possible millions of planets in the universe, the book Water: The Web of Life marvels:

“As we learn more about how unusual the conditions on earth really are . . . we wonder whether among even millions of planets we could find a duplicate of earth. . . . Apparently there is a very particular series of events that results in a planet with liquid water on its surface.”

What water does to sustain the life in your body illustrates what a remarkable substance it truly is.

Water at Work Within You

Blood is often equated with the very life of creatures, as in the term lifeblood. Appropriately, blood is over four fifths water. The unique qualities of water make it ideally suited as the basis of this life-giving fluid. For example, more substances dissolve in water than in any other liquid. It also has the unique ability to move freely back and forth through your body’s cell walls, carrying with it the chemicals of life. At the same time it serves as the medium in which complex chemical reactions take place within the cells.

These reactions “burn” as fuel the food you eat, generating heat, as an auto engine does when it burns fuel. But, then, how does your body keep its steady 98.6° temperature? Water! If the water in your body were another liquid​—mercury, for example—​heat from your cells would tend to raise your temperature over thirty times as fast as it does! This is because water requires far more heat to change its temperature than do most other substances.

But water serves in other ways, also, to control your body temperature. Rapid circulation by way of the bloodstream keeps heat relatively even all over, and quickly moves excess heat to your skin for radiating into the air. On the other hand, heat stored in your body’s water delivers welcome warmth to the extremities when you are cold.

Even with this remarkable system, your body usually does not quickly enough get rid of the heat that it generates. So another amazing property of water comes into play​—evaporation. How does this help?

Well, when a pint of water evaporates, it soaks up about 1,100 times as much heat as when its temperature rises just one degree! You feel this cooling effect when a breeze dries moisture from your skin. Since about two pints of body water normally evaporate unnoticed each day through your skin and lungs by means of your breath, much excess heat is regularly released in this way.

But on a hot day, or as your activity picks up from normal levels, your sweat glands exude more water, possibly gallons in a day. Any perspiration that evaporates from the surface, rather than dripping off, carries with it immense amounts of heat​—surely a marvelous cooling system!

Your Need for Water

Since water is so much a part of our very existence, we need to keep our bodies well supplied. Though a person may survive as much as eighty days without food, few can last longer than about ten days without water. With a very small drop from normal water content, you quickly feel thirsty. Even a 1- or 2-percent deficiency of water can be distressing or painful. Just 5 percent causes skin shrinkage, dried-out mouth and tongue, and hallucinations begin. A 15-percent loss is usually death-dealing.

Your body is constantly losing water. In addition to the two pints normally lost through the skin and breath, another three pints or more may be eliminated through your kidneys and bowels. Water lost by sweating, and even by tears, has to be added to the normal total of five or six pints that must be replaced each day to maintain your body’s fluid balance.

Does this mean that you have to drink three quarts of liquid every day? Not unless you are sweating heavily. Actually, about a third of the water you need comes from eating “solid” food, which is often mostly water. Even bread is about a third water. Interestingly, your own body cells manufacture nearly a pint of water (H₂O) chemically as they use oxygen (O) to burn the hydrogen (H) in your food as fuel.

Thus you may need to drink only five or six glasses of liquids such as milk, coffee, juice or water directly each day. But even though water is among the most abundant substances on earth, supplying enough drinkable water is a major undertaking. Since it can dissolve so many different substances, water is not always safe to drink without purification.

Making Water Drinkable

Drinking water can seldom be called “pure” or “clean” in a chemical sense, because it almost always has some gases and minerals dissolved in it. Making water “potable” or safe to drink and pleasing to the taste does not require removal of all impurities. In fact, some of the elements necessary to good health and taste are often found naturally in good drinking water.

Fresh underground water obtained from springs and wells is often​—but not always—​safe to drink because of the filtering and purifying that takes place as it sinks through layers of soil and porous rock. Even fresh surface waters have self-purifying abilities. As it moves along, running water tends to break up wastes that enter, dissolving and diluting them to harmlessness, allowing the heavier particles to settle out. Wind and turbulence help aerate running water, causing it to release unwanted waste gases and absorb oxygen.

Dissolved oxygen is vital to an amazing step-by-step “digestion” process that occurs in both moving and still waters. The oxygen may directly oxidize or “burn” wastes, neutralizing them, or, more often, it supports bacteria that break down wastes to a harmless residue.

As the process continues, tiny life forms consume the bacteria, clearing the water further. Sunlight penetrates more easily, encouraging the growth of green algae, which, in turn, consume certain contaminating compounds and give off much oxygen in the process. Small water creatures feed on the algae, completing the “digestion” cycle. In this way fresh waters tend to purify themselves in time.

But even this marvelous system can suffer indigestion, as you do when you eat too much of the wrong things. Rainwater runoff from farmlands often contains chemical fertilizer and pesticide residues. New arrays of industrial wastes join them in our water sources, choking these with a variety and volume of chemicals often well beyond the capacity of nature’s purification system. As a result, self-purification, says Preventive Medicine and Public Health, has become “at best a half-truth and has in the past too often been used to justify acceptance of unsafe waters.” Now almost all communities in developed countries treat water in some way before using it.

In so doing, their methods often follow the lead of nature. Thus aeration is usually the first step of a typical purification system. Water is sprayed, cascaded or has air bubbled through it so as to absorb as much purifying oxygen as possible. Then certain chemicals are added that encourage impurities and bacteria to clump together in “flocs.” This coagulation process speeds up natural settling action, which is completed during sedimentation. Then comes filtration, usually through sand filters, to remove the remaining flocs and most other impurities. Finally, disinfection kills most remaining live organisms, usually by means of chlorine.

Water-Treatment Problems

You would think that the foregoing process would be thorough enough to remove anything dangerous from the water you drink. But recent tests by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicate that small amounts of numerous chemical compounds are getting through to the faucet in some cities. A few of these compounds are known to cause cancer. The irony of this is that several are said to be compounds of the very chlorine that is added to make the waters safe!

Some doctors even present evidence that chlorine may help to trigger the cholesterol buildup in human blood vessels that is said to cause heart attacks and strokes. Joseph M. Price, M.D., asserts in his book Coronaries/​Cholesterol/​Chlorine that it is “one of the greatest paradoxes of recorded history” that a public health measure responsible for saving so many lives “should also unsuspectedly be responsible for many of the chronic disorders of later life.”

Though such conclusions are disputed, hundreds of cities in Europe, Russia, Canada and Japan prefer alternative methods to disinfect their water. Nice, France, for example, has used ozone instead of chlorine for over sixty years; Paris, since 1968. Ozone is an unstable form of oxygen that reacts in a chemical frenzy with water, oxidizing impurities quickly and leaving no ozone residue.

Others advocate activated carbon granules in place of, or in addition to, conventional sand in filters. Activated carbon has a unique chemical “stickiness” that “absorbs” impurities. A single pound is said to expose more than four million square feet of activated carbon surface for removing impurities. Now many U.S. environmentalists are exerting increasing pressure to force adoption of such alternatives.

Water as Medicine

Should citizens be subjected to mass medical treatment through their drinking water? That issue still rankles opponents of fluoridation, even though almost half of the U.S. population now drinks fluoridated water. Children who drink treated water reportedly have only half to a third as many dental cavities.

But opponents cite the fact that the majority of people do not benefit, since it admittedly helps only youngsters. Further, they argue, since some drink more water than others, they are bound to suffer greater exposure to any potential dangers, which allegedly include mongolism, cancer and shortened life. Though most medical authorities discount such charges, those who oppose fluoridation say that they should be free to choose.

Some people have fled to bottled water for safety. However, recent studies indicate that even some bottled waters cannot be assumed safe. One doctor, writing in the Medical World News annual Cardiovascular Review, suggests boiling your drinking water to drive off any free chlorine. But even boiling will not necessarily remove other harmful compounds.

A Balanced View

Thus it is wise to have a balanced view of the water we drink. What we can do to assure its purity is limited. The air we breathe is polluted enough to shorten life in some areas, but gas masks are impractical.

So rather than allowing such situations to distort our perspective on life, we should see in them proof that human systems fail when they do not work in harmony with earth’s marvelous natural systems. But, at the same time, we can be confident that the Designer of these natural systems will soon see to it that they operate in accord with his purpose, when he brings “to ruin those ruining the earth” and its waters.​—Rev. 11:18.

Then earth’s waters will sustain life without ever causing pain, sickness or death. Appropriately, God’s provision of eternal life on earth at that time is pictured as a “river of water of life, clear as crystal.” “Let anyone thirsting come; let anyone that wishes take life’s water free.”​—Rev. 21:1-5; 22:1, 17.

Brutal Suppression of Freedom of Worship in Mozambique

A CURTAIN of darkness is falling in a sizable area of Africa. Yet for decades the cry there has been for the light of “Freedom!”

The peoples of many African countries for long years, even centuries, were under the yoke of conquering nations of other continents. They have sought and recently gained liberation from the political and economic subjection accompanying that yoke. But now, within some of those liberated lands, there is an attempt to wipe out a basic freedom of the people: Freedom of worship.

Once the colonial powers were accused of using raw power and military might to force native inhabitants into rigid conformity, with no allowance for difference of viewpoint or of conscience. Now the same raw power and military force are wielded in a brutal attack on the right to worship according to one’s conscience.

However, this time the attack is by Africans against fellow Africans, people of their own land! Awake! has recently reported on such assault on freedom of worship in Malawi.a Now a similar attack is taking place in neighboring Mozambique.

If a man wins out in a long struggle against a formidable opponent, onlookers​—whether sympathetic to his struggle or not may be impressed with his courage and endurance. But would their esteem rise or fall if afterward they should see him turn upon a small child, beat and tie up the child, claiming it was a “dangerous threat” to him? In effect, this is what has happened in the East African country of Mozambique. Consider:

For three centuries Mozambique lay under Portuguese rule. But in the last ten years a determined struggle was waged by revolutionary forces to make the country independent. Finally, in the summer of 1975, Portugal turned over full control of the country to the principal revolutionary party, the “Front for the Liberation of Mozambique” (generally shortened to Frelimo). The long struggle had ended. A new era had begun for Mozambique.

Yet, within four months after the changeover of authority, a campaign was mounted to crush a small minority in the country​—Jehovah’s witnesses. They number only about 7,000 among the 8,000,000 inhabitants of Mozambique. Compared to the nation as a whole, this minority is like a small child, defenseless from the physical standpoint and now robbed of all legal protection of their basic freedoms.

Reports received from Mozambique, beginning in the latter part of October 1975, show that massive arrests have been made. Almost all of the 7,000 witnesses of Jehovah in Mozambique have been imprisoned. A house-to-house hunt was made to find and arrest men, women and children. Men were arrested at their places of work without being able to contact their families. In many cases the arrests were accompanied by brutal beatings. The ultimate goal seems to be the complete elimination of Jehovah’s witnesses and their worship in all of Mozambique. The accomplishment of this can mean but one thing: The denial of freedom of worship, a principle firmly embodied in the constitution of the now independent country of Mozambique.

But why? Why seek to obliterate a people known around the earth as being peaceful and politically harmless? What had Jehovah’s witnesses done? What does their record in Mozambique show? When brought out from under the obscurity caused by clouds of propaganda, the facts reveal a remarkable scene, particularly in this so-called “Age of Enlightenment.”

[Footnotes]

[Map on page 16]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

AFRICA

MOZAMBIQUE

MALAWI

An Old Pattern of Intolerance Flares Up Again

OVER a period of three years, from 1972 to 1975, Mozambique was a haven of refuge for more than thirty thousand of Jehovah’s witnesses from neighboring Malawi. Forced by violent persecution to flee their homeland, these Malawian men, women and children found a measure of peace in ten refugee camps in Mozambique. Recent reports reveal that, at this writing, a considerable number still find refuge here. For all of this Jehovah’s witnesses earth wide are grateful to the people of Mozambique.

The intensity of the attack now being made by some elements upon native Mozambican Jehovah’s witnesses, however, threatens to convert a haven of refuge into a crucible of brutal oppression.

In Mozambique, radios and newspapers have poured out a flood of propaganda against Jehovah’s witnesses. They are depicted as “agents left behind by Portuguese Colonialism,” “former ‘Pides’ [Portuguese secret police],” whose aim is to “upset the Social Order.” (Noticias, October 9, 1975) They were said to “cling fiercely to a religious fanaticism . . . as a means not to pay taxes, not to show respect for the Social Order and to annihilate the mobilization and organization of the People,” to achieve “anarchy,” according to A Tribuna of October 22, 1975.

Compare this with another account from a different source of information. It deals with a time when a mob had whipped up a city into an uproar and a crowd of people gathered before the city officials shouting, ‘The men who have made trouble all over the world have now come here and they all flout the law.’

This latter report is of an occasion that took place nineteen hundred years ago. And the accusations then were leveled against the Christian apostle Paul and his companion Silas. (Acts 17:6, 7, New English Bible) Those words then spoken were lies, totally false.

Such words are totally false when spoken today about Jehovah’s witnesses, who are well known as law-abiding Christians in some 200 lands of the earth. The charges they face today in Mozambique are basically the same charges made against early Christians in the first century. And it is the same intolerance that brings suffering upon true Christians now.

That pattern of intolerance in Mozambique did not begin with the changeover of government in 1975. And this exposes the falsity of the claims made that Jehovah’s witnesses there in some way serve the interests of Portuguese colonialism. The facts show that nothing could be farther from the truth.

Over the past forty years Jehovah’s witnesses in Mozambique have felt the lash of dictatorial intolerance. They suffered much brutal treatment at the hands of the PIDE (Portuguese secret police). See now what the facts of history reveal:

The Record of History Testifies

It was back in 1925 that some Mozambican men working in South African gold mines received some publications of Jehovah’s witnesses that explained Bible teachings. Some of the men, on returning that year to their homes in Vila Luisa (north of Lourenço Marques, the capital of Mozambique), began to talk to their neighbors about the things they had learned.

Thus, native Mozambicans, not foreign missionaries or Portuguese agents, introduced into the country the message about God’s kingdom that Jehovah’s witnesses bring earth wide.

During the regime of Portuguese dictator Antonio Salazar, in 1935, two Witnesses from South Africa, Fred Ludick and David Norman, entered the country to cooperate with the Mozambican Witnesses in their activity. What happened? They were soon arrested by the Portuguese police and deported. Similar efforts in 1938 and 1939 brought the same results: immediate deportation.

Now, however, the Portuguese authorities went farther. They began arresting Mozambicans who received the Watchtower magazine. Some spent as much as two years in jail before receiving a trial. Some were deported to the penal colony of São Tomé for twelve years! Others were given a ten-year sentence in work camps in the northern part of Mozambique.

This severe opposition under the dictatorial Salazar regime tested the courage and endurance of Jehovah’s witnesses in Mozambique. When they met to study the Bible together, it was always in danger of arrest. Over the years, many were arrested, beaten, held in prison or sent to the penal islands.

Efforts to get relief were rejected. In 1955 one of Jehovah’s witnesses from England, John Cooke, was sent to Mozambique to apply for official recognition of the work of Jehovah’s witnesses. In time he was brought before an inspector of the secret police (PIDE) and subjected to lengthy interrogation. He was accused of being a Communist and holding secret meetings. Though the interview convinced the official that Jehovah’s witnesses are not Communists, he told Cooke: “Nevertheless, you people are against the Catholic Church and the Catholic Church is our church. She helped us to build up the Portuguese Empire!” Cooke was given forty-eight hours to leave the country.

Mozambique daily paper Noticias of October 9, 1975, quotes Frelimo leader and Mozambique President Samora Machel as asking the question (at Massingir, Mozambique): “When we were tied and beaten by Portuguese colonialists, where were these Witnesses of Jehovah?” Where were they? The answer of many of Jehovah’s witnesses is that they were then imprisoned by those same Portuguese authorities!

Francisco Zunguza, for example. He was put in prison in Lourenço Marques in 1956 for six months; in 1964 for three months; in 1965 for one year; and in 1969 he was put in Machava prison for over two years. His wife and ten other Witnesses were also arrested at that time. All of this simply because they were Jehovah’s witnesses, but not for any overt or seditious act against the Portuguese government.

From 1969 onward the Portuguese secret police (PIDE) intensified their activity against Jehovah’s witnesses. Time and time again these were brought in and questioned. And what was the main criticism that the Portuguese authorities and the secret police leveled against the Witnesses? That they refused to take part in fighting against Frelimo, the revolutionary party that by then had become active and which now forms the government of Mozambique!

Jehovah’s witnesses made clear their neutrality as regards all politics and warfare of the nations. Their position was in full harmony with the words of Christ Jesus, spoken to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate: “My kingdom is no part of this world. If my kingdom were part of this world, my attendants would have fought that I should not be delivered up.” John 18:36.

During that same year, 1969, the elders of the congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses in southern Mozambique were called into the offices of the police. These elders were told that the activities and meetings of Jehovah’s witnesses were banned. Though severely hampered, they managed to keep going ahead, acting in harmony with the position that Christ Jesus’ apostles took when authorities in Jerusalem tried to force them to comply with a ban on their activity. The apostles were faced with a choice of obeying the Jewish authorities or obeying God’s command. Though law-abiding persons, they said with boldness that, in such case of conflicting commands, “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.”​—Acts 5:29.

In 1969 the complaint was that Jehovah’s witnesses did not fight against Frelimo. But in 1973 the secret police (PIDE) arrested a number of Witnesses, and this time the accusation was that they were supporters of Frelimo! Under such charge, on March 5, 1974, a Witness, the father of three children, was put in a small cell in Machava prison. He was kept in solitary confinement for two months, with nothing but the floor to sleep on. His is but one of many similar cases of unjust treatment during the final years of the Portuguese regime in Mozambique.

With Colonialism Out​—Greater Light of Freedom or Continued Darkness of Intolerance?

Came April 25, 1974. Almost overnight the political situation in Portugal and its overseas possessions changed dramatically. A coup in Lisbon ended forty-eight years of dictatorial rule and shook the Portuguese empire.

Prospects of greater freedom in Portugal and its overseas territories seemed great. People in Mozambique rejoiced. Jehovah’s witnesses themselves wondered if they might be coming out of a long, dark tunnel of some forty years of persecution.

An interim government was established in Mozambique preparatory to a complete turnover of power to the Frelimo forces by June 1975. During this period of relative freedom Jehovah’s witnesses were able to hold their Bible studies openly. They even held large assemblies to which all the public were invited.

In April 1975, for the first time, they were able to have a mixed assembly of Africans and whites in Lourenço Marques. That would have been impossible under the Portuguese dictatorship. The Witnesses were happy to be able to share Christian fellowship free from any racial separation.

But now political forces began placing great emphasis upon outward displays of political support. Activist groups went around calling on all to attend political meetings where attenders were to shout “Viva Frelimo” (“Long Live Frelimo”) and raise their right fist (as in the Communist salute).

What position did Jehovah’s witnesses take? They remained nonpolitical. They took the same position that Jehovah’s witnesses had taken in Italy during the Mussolini regime when people were expected to cry out “Viva il Duce” and give the Fascist salute. They did as had Jehovah’s witnesses in Germany when all were expected to shout “Heil Hitler” and give the Nazi salute. They did the same as had their brothers in Japanese-occupied lands during the second world war when people were ordered to bow down in worship of the Japanese emperor.

Yes, and their position was the same as that taken in Britain, the United States, Portugal, Spain and in every other country on the face of the earth. They maintained Christian neutrality in political affairs no matter what hardship their refusal to shout political slogans or give political salutes might bring upon them. Thousands spent years in German concentration camps or in harsh Siberian work camps.

But, as in all other countries around the world, Jehovah’s witnesses in Mozambique continued to show full respect for the State authorities, in harmony with the Bible’s command at Romans 13:1. And they showed this by continuing to pay their taxes faithfully without attempt at evasion, by continuing to be industrious and reliable workers, and by continuing to be law-abiding citizens. They took no exception to any laws unless these were in evident opposition to God’s own laws set forth in his Word, the Bible. What resulted?

In the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Mozambique, which went into effect on June 25, 1975, article 33 reads:

“The individual liberties are guaranteed by the State to all the citizens of the People’s Republic of Mozambique. These liberties include the inviolability of the home and privacy of correspondence and cannot be limited, unless in special cases provided by the law.

“In the People’s Republic of Mozambique the State guarantees to its citizens the freedom of practicing or of not practicing their religion.”

Article 25 of the Constitution states:

“In the People’s Republic of Mozambique no one can be arrested and submitted to judgment except in the terms of the law. The State guarantees the accused the right of defense.”

Do these words have real meaning? What happened to Jehovah’s witnesses in Mozambique makes that a serious question.

About a month previous to the proclamation of full independence, in a place called Chonguene, a few miles from the town of João Belo, the local congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses met on Sunday for their regular Bible study. A group of people, Roman Catholics and Protestants, on their way to a political meeting, came into the Bible study meeting, interrupting it and questioning those present as to why they were not attending the political meeting. Threatening the Witnesses, they left.

A few days later, on May 23, police vans carrying Frelimo soldiers arrived and rounded up six of those who had attended the Witnesses’ Bible meeting. The commander ordered his men to beat and kick these six men and then take them off to prison.

In prison these men were beaten daily in an effort to force them to say “Viva Frelimo.” Three of them were only newly interested persons and not baptized Witnesses. These three broke under the beatings. The three who were baptized Witnesses steadfastly refused to violate their Christian consciences. They were then taken out and ordered to dig a hole deep enough to stand in. Forced to stand in the hole with just their heads showing, they were told that if they still refused to say the political slogan they would be shot and buried right there. But they remained firm in their determination not to violate their consciences. Finally they were taken back into the prison.

Happily, when this treatment was reported to the Minister of Defense in Lourenço Marques, he expressed surprise and phoned the Frelimo commander in that area. Before long the Witnesses were set free. This, however, was but one bright spot in an otherwise dark picture.

Then, on Independence Day, June 25, 1975, the new Constitution took on full force. Would brutal attacks on freedom of religion like the one just described now become a thing of the past? Would a progressive, enlightened attitude prevail over narrow intolerance?

A Violent Campaign Launched

The answer came quickly, almost within days. A campaign to vilify Jehovah’s witnesses was launched throughout the country. Many of the attacks were in the form of radio talks by district governors and other politicians.

At the instigation of activist groups, Jehovah’s witnesses in various places were arrested and taken to Frelimo headquarters for questioning. They were often beaten. As one example, consider what happened with the congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses in Choupal in the district of Lourenço Marques on September 13, 1975:

A visiting elder of Jehovah’s witnesses, Elias Mahenye, was giving a Bible talk to some 300 persons in the congregation’s Kingdom Hall. Toward the close of his talk, members of the local activist group came into the hall and tried to interrupt the meeting. Firmly but politely they were informed that the meeting had not yet ended, and they were asked to wait.

Hardly had the congregation said “Amen” to the final prayer when these activists mounted the platform and demanded that the whole congregation shout “Viva Frelimo.” Three times the demand was made but without response. Then they ordered the congregation to stay in the hall while they sent for Frelimo soldiers.

When the commander of the soldiers arrived, he asked who the padre (priest) in charge was. It was explained that the Witnesses have no padre; however, Mahenye identified himself as the one giving the talk. He and four others were then put on the platform, stripped from the waist up and ordered to shout “Viva Frelimo.” When they did not, they were severely beaten and then tied with electric wire. Mahenye’s arms still bear scars where the wires cut deeply into his arms.

The five were taken to the nearby army barracks, and Mahenye was accused of telling the people to say “Down with Frelimo”​—a deliberate and malicious lie. The soldiers then beat him with fists and rifle butts. Then all five were beaten with the soldiers’ belts. They were locked into a filthy lavatory for the night. At 4 a.m. they were taken out and beaten again. Mahenye was lyingly accused of having trained soldiers to fight Frelimo and given yet another beating. Later it was admitted that this accusation was groundless.

When day came, a Frelimo sergeant arrived and interrogated the group. He told them: “If you do not say ‘Viva Frelimo’ Frelimo will not keep you in the country. Because they fought for ten years, not for Jehovah, and they did not get help from Jehovah. Everybody should say ‘Viva Frelimo,’ because Frelimo is the god of Mozambique and the second god of Mozambique is the gun. We do not want to hear anything about Jehovah.”

And what of the rest of the congregation, including women, aged persons and children, who had been at the Kingdom Hall? They had been forced to remain there all night and into the next day. Many were beaten and tied up with wire. Along with this the soldiers shouted: “Who is this Jehovah of yours? Why doesn’t he come and help you?”

During the twenty-four-hour period no one, not even the women or children, were allowed to sleep, drink water, have food or use the toilet facilities. Bibles and Bible literature used at the meetings were burned. It was as if Mozambique had become medieval Europe, as if the Dark Ages and the Catholic Inquisition had returned. Finally the Witnesses were allowed to leave, under the threat that unless they learned to say “Viva Frelimo” they would be in for worse trouble.

Among other barbarities, in Magude, north of Lourenço Marques, thirteen Witnesses were arrested, beaten and forced to dig up trees with their fingers. Then their legs and arms were tied and they were rolled around like drums. As in ancient Rome, the local residents were invited to come and see the spectacle of Christians being tortured.

Near Manjacaze, a number of members of two small congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses were imprisoned. Then the governor of Gaza district came to the area and the remaining Witnesses were requested to be present for a public meeting. They complied with the request. After discoursing about local farming activities, the governor suddenly asked all Witnesses present to come forward. They did so. The governor then ordered that they be arrested, both men and women. They were severely beaten, some so badly that blood flowed from an ear or an eye. They were then taken to prison.

In that same district of Gaza, a group of Witnesses were beaten day after day, every day, over a two-month period in an effort to break their integrity!

But all these incidents were just the prelude to the major blow to come. Within a few weeks came an official order: All of Jehovah’s witnesses in the entire country should be arrested.

This order was carried out systematically and heartlessly. Frelimo followers went from house to house demanding that residents say “Viva Frelimo.” Those who would not were assumed to be Jehovah’s witnesses and were taken to prison. Whole families, children included, were mercilessly dragged off.

This means that the number of Jehovah’s witnesses now imprisoned in Mozambique runs into the thousands. Direct contact with them has become nearly impossible. Some Witnesses, however, managed to escape into neighboring countries. They report that jails in the area of the capital, Lourenço Marques, are now “filled to capacity.” With prisons filled, a special camp has been set up near St. Jose’s Cemetery for hundreds of Witnesses. Shelter being insufficient for so many persons, a large number have to sleep in the open without blankets. No food is supplied them. Officials allow relatives to bring food on Thursdays and Sundays only. Such compassionate visitors themselves run the risk of arrest if they refuse to say “Viva Frelimo.”

Official plans evidently are to send many of the male Witnesses to northern towns like Nampula and Quelimane. There they are to be used, in effect, as slave labor in building projects. Children are to be sent to political schools for Frelimo indoctrination. Radio announcements state that those Witnesses having bank accounts will have their money confiscated. Homes and cars will be taken by the government.

Yes, it is a dreary repetition of the old pattern of totalitarianism. The idolizing of the State through total regimentation, total thought control, with no allowance for free exercise of individual conscience, the repetition of the Nazi slave labor practices and the Siberian labor camps; the forced separation of children from their parents to indoctrinate them in party politics.

Press and radio dispatches carry such statements as “Mozambique is not Jehovah’s country” and “these fanatical ‘Jehovahs’ must be reeducated.” One sample of the type of ‘reeducation’ some favor: After giving brutal treatment to the Witnesses, some party followers not only demanded that the Witnesses shout “Viva Frelimo” with an upward thrust of the fist, but even tried to force them to curse God! They demanded that the Witnesses also say “Down with Jehovah” while giving a downward thrust of the fist.

Before the mass arrests began, some thirty members of the Xinavane congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses were called in and lectured to for several hours. When the Witnesses explained from the Bible their reason for refusing to become involved in politics and shout political slogans, the Frelimo commander mocked them, saying: “I give your Jehovah five minutes to break down this house.” Letting five minutes pass, he then said: “I am willing to meet your Jehovah with a gun. The Portuguese soldiers prayed for victory but were defeated. Frelimo fought without Jehovah and won. We will defeat Jehovah. We do not want his name in Mozambique.”

How like the pharaoh of ancient Egypt who boastfully said: “Who is Jehovah, so that I should obey his voice to send Israel away? I do not know Jehovah at all and, what is more, I am not going to send Israel away.”​—Ex. 5:2.

What, then, is the real issue in Mozambique?

Questions That Urgently Call for an Answer

Can any possible good to the country come from such a denial of the new republic’s constitutional provisions? Can the people of Mozambique in any way be benefited by such a malicious assault upon freedom of worship? Does the refusal to engage in political activity on the part of Jehovah’s witnesses actually hinder the new government’s efforts to rule the country effectively? The facts are all to the contrary.

The new government of Mozambique has declared itself as favoring many fine ideals. This includes better education for the people (Portuguese colonialism left 90 percent of the population illiterate), the abolition of prostitution and drunkenness, the bringing of relief from oppression to the people. In reality, Jehovah’s witnesses contribute greatly toward such ideals.

Ask yourself: In a land that must overcome massive illiteracy, is it the shouting of a slogan or the giving of a salute that will accomplish improvement? Is it realistic or practical to claim so?

What, on the other hand, of the example and activity of Jehovah’s witnesses? Their entire way of worship calls for a positive attitude toward education and gaining the ability to read. In their Bible educational work, in country after country, they have conducted literacy courses.

In Mexico alone they have aided 48,000 persons to learn to read and write during the past twenty-eight years. In Nigeria more than 5,000 were helped in this way during the last four years. And within Mozambique itself 3,930 persons were taught to read and write by Jehovah’s witnesses just in the past two years! So in this regard, there are no people more education-minded than Jehovah’s witnesses.

As to elevating the people’s moral standards, will the repeating of slogans and gestures accomplish this? Did it in Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy or in any other part of the earth in any period of human history? The facts show it has not, and reason tells us it could not.

But, because of holding to Bible principles, Jehovah’s witnesses over a period of ninety or more years have established a reputation earth wide for high living standards, moral decency and clean living. They have helped hundreds of thousands of persons in all lands to overcome sexual immorality, alcoholism, drug addiction and similar degrading habits.

Commenting on one of their assemblies, the Nigerian newspaper The Daily Times said: “It is a credit to them that over 5,000 people made up of men, women and children could come to pray, sing, eat and sleep together for four days and record no incidents of stealing or fighting. And yet there was no policeman to keep order.” Surely people like that are of benefit to any nation. They are not among those causing governments to be burdened with the heavy cost of fighting crime and corruption.

Colonialism left the new government of Mozambique saddled with large external debts, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. Will slogans and gestures make the difference in overcoming such economic problems? Or is it work, work done by people who are industrious, reliable and honest, that can contribute toward a higher standard of living?

Can the paying of taxes be assured by slogans or gestures? Are those who shout the loudest sure to be those who are most honest in their tax paying? Cases of tax evasion in country after country show that outward displays of patriotism are no reliable index as to freedom from tax evasion. But, again, Jehovah’s witnesses have earned solid respect in all lands for their conscientious compliance with tax requirements, their honesty and reliability in business dealings.

In newspaper propaganda, such as in A Tribuna of October 22, 1975, and in Tempo of October 26, 1975, writers have tried to accuse Jehovah’s witnesses of “obscurantism.” This is defined in dictionaries as “opposition to progress and the spread of knowledge, especially through great complexity of language, ritual, etc.” But what do facts reveal?

People all over Africa know that Jehovah’s witnesses, more than any other religious group, have helped Africans of all tribes to become free from all kinds of superstitious beliefs. This includes the practice of witchcraft, enslaving rituals, traditional fears and tribal taboos. The Witnesses have helped the people to gain a progressive, practical approach to life and its problems, contributing to the forming of united families, responsible workers and considerate, peaceful neighbors. Surely this is the kind of progress and enlightenment that not only Mozambique but the whole world is in great need of today.

By contrast, what of those who try to twist matters and make them appear other than they really are, beclouding issues with hate-stimulating propaganda against a small minority? They are surely themselves deserving of the title of “obscurantists.” Those who resort to brutal suppression of basic freedoms use methods that are as old as is the history of intolerance and inhumanity itself.

Those who try to promote the idolizing of the State at the expense of human freedoms are following an ancient pattern that goes back thousands of years into the past, to the times of the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian empires. Surely such a course leads backward, not forward toward true progress and the spread of knowledge. Truth is strong enough that it has no need to resort to such tactics.

Do you believe that the political State should have the right to exercise total thought-control of all its subjects? Or do you believe that people should have the right to worship according to the dictates of their conscience?

If you decry totalitarian efforts to force people to conform to a political ideology, and if you feel compassion for those who suffer because of holding to their conscientious beliefs, you may wish to send a telegram or letter of appeal to one or more of the officials of the Frelimo government in the People’s Republic of Mozambique whose names are listed with this article.

[Box on page 25]

OFFICIALS TO WHOM TO WRITE

Presidente de República Popular de Moçambique

Samora Moises Machel

Lourenço Marques, Moçambique

Comissário Político Nacional

Armando Emilio Guebuza

Lourenço Marques, Moçambique

Vice-Presidente da República Popular de Moçambique

Marcelino dos Santos

Lourenço Marques, Moçambique

Primeiro Ministro da Republica Popular de Moçambique

Joaquim Chissano

Lourenço Marques, Moçambique

Ministro do Interior

P.O. Box 614 (Caixa Postal 614)

Lourenço Marques, Moçambique

Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros

Ac. Antonio Enes

No. 4

Lourenço Marques, Moçambique

Ministro da Defesa

Alberto Chipande

Lourenço Marques, Moçambique

Ministro da Informaçao

Jorge Rebelo

Lourenço Marques, Moçambique

Ministro do Trabalho

Mariano Matsinha

Lourenço Marques, Moçambique

Ministro da Agricultura

Joaquim de Carvalho

Lourenço Marques, Moçambique

Ministro das Obras Públicas e Habitacão

Julio Carrilho

Lourenço Marques, Moçambique

Vice-Director do Cabinete da Presidência

Luis Bernardo Honwana

Lourenço Marques, Moçambique

Members of the “Comite Central da Frelimo” (Central Committee of Frelimo)

Lourenço Marques, Moçambique

Mariano Matsinha

Deolinda Guesimane

Jonas Namashlua

Olimpio Vaz

Armando Panguene

Members of the “Comite Executivo da Frelimo” (Executive Committee of Frelimo)

Lourenço Marques, Moçambique

José Oscar Monteiro

Daniel Mbanze

Gideon Ndobe

Meet Mighty Behemoth

“BEHEMOTH” is the designation applied to an animal in a record that has been preserved for some 3,500 years through repeated copying and recopying. The term probably means “huge beast.” What creature is of such tremendous size as to merit the ancient designation “Behemoth”? It is a thick-skinned, nearly hairless mammal called the hippopotamus. That “Behemoth” is the hippopotamus agrees with the description of this creature found in the Bible book of Job.

In part, that ancient description reads: “Green grass it eats just as a bull does. Its bones are tubes of copper; its strong bones are like wrought-iron rods. Under the thorny lotus trees it lies down, in the concealed place of reeds and the swampy place. The thorny lotus trees keep it blocked off with their shadow; the poplars of the torrent valley surround it. If the river acts violently, it does not run in panic. It is confident, although the Jordan should burst forth against its mouth.”​—Job 40:15, 18, 21-23.

The hippopotamus does indeed eat vegetation ‘as does a bull.’ More than 200 pounds of soft water plants, grass, reeds and other greenery enter its stomach every day. Having a capacity of forty or fifty gallons, the stomach of the hippopotamus is fully capable of handling all this food.

Full-grown, this animal may be twelve to fourteen feet long. One male hippopotamus kept in captivity attained a weight of 8,960 pounds. It seems hardly possible that this animal’s short legs could support all that weight. The bones of the legs, however, are strong like “tubes of copper.” Despite its ungainly, blimplike appearance, the hippopotamus is not just a mass of fat. To the contrary, much of its weight consists of muscle. By no means is the animal so weighed down as to impair movement. It can run faster than a man.

The head of the hippopotamus is definitely the outstanding feature. In the case of a full-grown animal, the head may weigh as much as a ton. Looking into the mouth, which may spread open three or four feet, is much like peering into a pink cavern. Especially prominent are the tusks, the lower canines. These are about two feet long and may weigh about six and a half pounds each. One bite of the powerful jaws is enough to pierce the tough armor of a crocodile.

The hippopotamus is well suited for its life in water and on land. The skin, particularly that of the belly, is very tough. So the animal has no trouble in coping with bumps and scrapes as its low body passes over large stones in riverbeds. Special pores in the skin secrete a thick oily substance that takes on a pink color in sunlight. This substance keeps the skin moist and pliable when exposed to the air for extended periods. While the animal is under water, the same secretion may serve as a protective veneer. The eyes of the hippopotamus are situated high up on the front of the head, and the nostrils are located at the tip of its snout. This arrangement enables the creature to see and to breathe while it is almost completely submerged. When the hippopotamus dives, its ears and slitlike nostrils close.

Often hippopotamuses are seen in the “concealed place of reeds,” spending much of the day in water. A herd of twenty or thirty of these gigantic creatures may be spotted at one time. Being such huge animals, they do not panic in the face of a flood, even as the Bible says. With part of the head above water, they can swim against the deluge. Why, they can even run under the water. The work The Animal Kingdom notes that the hippopotamus can “run along the bottom of a lake at eight miles an hour.”

Mighty Behemoth is certainly an impressive creature. In its own way, Behemoth adds silent testimony to the existence of an all-powerful Maker. It was this Creator, Jehovah God, who said to his servant Job: “Here, now, is Behemoth that I have made as well as you.”​—Job 40:15.

What Is the Bible’s View?

Evolution and Christianity​—Are They Compatible?

ACCORDING to the theory of evolution, all living things have developed from one-celled organisms that came into existence hundreds of millions of years ago. Supposedly, biological changes alone brought about the infinite variety of plants and animals on earth today.

Among those who accept this theory are many who believe in God. They hold that God began and directed the whole evolutionary process. Do you agree with that view?

Many persons feel that there is no real conflict between the evolution theory and the main principles of Christianity. However, there are some basic matters on which the two absolutely cannot be reconciled.

Outstanding among these is the claim of evolutionists that all forms of life developed from a common beginning and are, therefore, related to one another, at least in the distant past. The Bible, however, states unequivocally that God “proceeded to create” separately, “according to their kinds,” types of vegetable, aquatic, bird and animal life, as well as humans. (Gen. 1:11, 12, 20-22, 24-28; 2:7, 21-23) Should Christians today abandon the Genesis account of creation in favor of evolution? Is it “unscientific” to believe in separate creation ‘according to kinds’?

The most authoritative testimony for Christians is that of Jesus Christ himself. Note his expression to certain religious leaders: “Did you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and will stick to his wife, and the two will be one flesh’?” (Matt. 19:4, 5) It is clear from this that Jesus accepted the Bible’s view of how life originated.

All the Christian Greek Scriptures agree on this point. We read, for example: “For man is not out of woman, but woman out of man.” (1 Cor. 11:8; compare Genesis 2:21-23.) “The God that made the world and all the things in it . . . made out of one man every nation of men, to dwell upon the entire surface of the earth.”​—Acts 17:24-26; compare Genesis 1:27, 28.

But can informed persons accept that view today? Have not discoveries by scientists disproved the Genesis creation account? In some circles it is popular to think so. But how many have really looked into the matter? Have you? The first chapter of Genesis does not say that God created every species of plant and animal separately. As noted above, living things were produced “according to their kinds.” What does that expression mean? Simply that major groups of organisms, such as humans, are distinct from other major groups. This, however, allows for great variety within each Genesis “kind.”

Is not that precisely the way that life forms appear today? Likely you cannot count the varieties of cats and dogs that you have seen in your lifetime. But do they not remain cats and dogs? Never is the boundary crossed between feline and canine. And what about mankind? Though much variety is evident among humans, including hair color, eye color, height, natural abilities and personality traits, they always remain humans. In this regard, a well-known professor of zoology, Theodosius Dobzansky, wrote:

“The living world is not a single array of individuals in which any two variants are connected by unbroken series of intergrades, but an array of more or less distinctly separate arrays, intermediates between which are absent or at least rare.”

What about the fossil record of life in past ages? Do we see there evidence of continuous evolution of all living things? Or does the “record of the rocks” contain further proof of distinction between major groups of organisms? Paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson writes:

“The facts are that many species and genera, indeed the majority, do appear suddenly in the record, differing sharply and in many ways from any earlier group, and that this appearance of discontinuity becomes more common the higher the level, until it is virtually universal as regards order and all higher steps in the [animal and plant classification] hierarchy.”

Do not these facts in the living and fossil worlds fully confirm the Genesis record that life forms came into existence and reproduce “according to their kinds”?

A major Christian teaching is expressed at Romans 5:12: “Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.” Because of this it was necessary for Jesus Christ to come to earth and die sacrificially as “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29) This Christian truth, however, is totally at odds with the theory of evolution. How so? Because that theory claims that, instead of falling into sin at his beginning, man has continued to progress upward. If this were true, there would be no need for Jesus’ sin-atoning death.

And what about Christianity’s main mark of identification? Jesus said: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.” (John 13:35) In his famous Sermon on the Mount Jesus counseled his listeners to show love even to their “enemies.” (Matt. 5:44) Does the theory of evolution comport with the law of Christian love? Paul Raubiczak, a professor of philosophy, mentions some of the effects of evolutionary thinking upon mankind:

“Evolution has been made the basis of a complete philosophy. . . . In fact the philosophy based on Darwinism has exercised an extremely strong influence, far beyond the realms of science and philosophy upon the whole development of European thought. The ruthless life and death struggle for survival has been translated into a new morality, as ruthless competition in a capitalist, as ruthless warfare in the communist world, and as ruthless nationalism everywhere.”

The consequences of accepting the evolution theory can be far reaching. Were you to become persuaded that the Scriptural view of life’s origin is not correct, how would it affect your regard for other parts of the Bible, such as its lofty moral principles? Might it be that this theory would end up in wrecking your faith in God altogether, as it has done in the case of millions of others?

In summary, the theory of evolution denies that major groups of living things are distinct from one another and have remained so throughout the history of life on earth. It denies the truth of man’s fall into sin and the consequent need of Jesus’ ransom sacrifice. (Matt. 20:28; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6) It has brought about large-scale loss of faith in God and promoted a “dog-eat-dog,” “survival of the fittest” spirit that has resulted in untold bloodshed. Evolution and Christianity, therefore, are clearly not compatible.

Watching the World

Saving Babies

◆ Almost 20 percent of Hong Kong’s newborn Chinese babies are threatened by potentially fatal “hyperbilirubinemia.” This condition of an abnormally high level of bile pigments in the blood is a common complication among premature infants whose livers are not yet fully developed. Now, says the South China Morning Post, “local doctors are encouraging the use of simple blue lighting as a substitute for dangerous blood transfusions.” Previously, complete exchange transfusion was the principal treatment, but now bathing the babies in blue light is eliminating this practice from Hong Kong hospitals, as it is in other nations.

Communication Gap Closed

◆ “It’s incredible!” writes a mother in a letter published in the New York Daily News. “I have found a solution to the void that existed between me and my totally uncommunicative teenage daughter.” What is it? She says that she tried ‘giving her daughter a hand’ with the dishes instead of making her do them alone. The result: “The girl nearly talked an arm and a leg off me! . . . I feel we are ever so much closer and so does she.” The concept of parents working and playing together with their children is ancient, but too many parents have lost sight of it in today’s society where everyone ‘does his own thing.’

Papal Blessings

◆ A Greek Catholic Church official in Jerusalem recently announced that Pope Paul VI, in a ‘warm personal’ letter, had conferred a “very special apostolic benediction” on imprisoned Archbishop Hilarion Capucci. The archbishop is serving a twelve-year term for smuggling guns and explosives to terrorists in Israel. The pope’s letter, personally signed, came in response to one from Capucci lamenting his “suffering in prison for peace and reconciliation among the peoples of the Middle East.”

Another papal blessing brought this reaction from a reader, as published in the Detroit News: “I am a Catholic. Your recent story about the Pope sending a telegram to [a prominent underworld figure’s] daughter for her wedding infuriated me. . . . Our church is in trouble. We can’t get young people to attend. They call us hypocrites, which I’m beginning to understand. . . . if the Pope continues to send telegrams to ‘Mafia’ big shots I’m sure we who don’t believe in the ‘Mafia’ will not want to stay with the church.” Attempting to explain, Detroit priest Hubert Maino said: “Anyone can obtain a papal blessing by merely having any priest state in writing that he, or they, are Catholics in good standing.”

Good Spy

◆ What makes a good spy? The Interim Report of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee reveals that, in 1960, one Congo-based agent then considered to be an “asset” was a stateless soldier of fortune, a forger and bank robber. “He is indeed aware of the precepts of right and wrong,” said a cable from Africa recommending him, “but if he is given an assignment which may be morally wrong in the eyes of the world, but necessary because his case officer ordered him to carry it out, then it is right, and he will dutifully undertake appropriate action for its execution without pangs of conscience.”

New Money

◆ An enfeebled $2 bill is scheduled to return to American pockets after a ten-year absence. In April the Federal Reserve Bank expects to start releasing the first of an annual 400 million of these bills. Their value has decreased in purchasing power to about $1.19 since circulation ceased in 1966.

Snowmobiles and Eskimos

◆ Dog teams are fading out as the transportation choice of Eskimo hunters. Food and upkeep for the teams may cost as much as $2,500 annually, whereas snowmobiles are said to be more economical. Some trappers may have to travel over 10,000 miles a year, and snowmobiles can cover as much distance in two hours as dogsleds do in a day. But the time and money saved has not been without cost. A third of adult male eskimos tested in the Baffin Island area were found to have impaired hearing from snowmobile noise. In one village serious hearing difficulties affected 83 percent of hunters who customarily spent long hours on their vehicles.

Sinking Cities

◆ Venice may no longer be sinking (Awake!, 11/22/75, p. 29) but reports indicate that Paris and cities throughout Japan are. Dating from the Middle Ages, gypsum mines that produced the original plaster of Paris honeycomb the land beneath about a tenth of that city. “We all know that Paris is built on a layer of Swiss cheese,” remarked one city official. Due to the grave risk of cave-ins, new construction was temporarily barred in the affected area.

In Japan the Daily Yomiuri reports that ground subsidence due to “excessive pumping-up of groundwater . . . is now a nationwide phenomenon.” Land is said to be sinking from ten to as much as twenty centimeters (4 to 8 inches) annually in some urban areas. The article notes that in these cities “roads are becoming uneven and ill-drained . . . floors, walls and window sashes of buildings are cracking . . . bridges and concrete structures have been distorted” and underground pipes are cracking.

Hidden Galaxy Discovered

◆ A University of Maryland astronomer reports discovering a previously unknown galaxy that is nearer our own Milky Way galaxy than any yet discovered. It is said to be a dwarf galaxy, containing about a thousandth the mass of our own. Obscured behind the Milky Way’s dense star fields and dust clouds, it had escaped detection until now.

Guns in School

◆ After a Gary, Indiana, high school student had gunned down a classmate in a school hallway, Superintendent Gordon McAndrew said that teachers and other employees could henceforth carry guns on the job if applications for permits were approved. He said of the rapid arming of students: “The problem in this community and others is that it’s as easy to get a gun as it is to go to the library and check out a book.”

Biggest African Airlift

◆ About 120,000 starving Somali nomads were reportedly flown from drought-stricken northern Somalia to camps in more habitable southern parts of the country. Relief officials report that Russian aircraft took a little more than a month to move the Somalis to new homes where Soviet experts were said to be teaching them deep-sea fishing and crop-raising skills. A few thousand are scheduled eventually to return to their desert nomadic way of life.

Justifying War

◆ Jesuit priest Richard T. McSorley recently wrote to the Catholic journal America that “the only efforts to relate war to the gospel have been the Christian pacifism of the first three centuries and the [just-unjust war] theory that began with Augustine in the fourth century.” However, he says, “it is clear now, 1600 years later, that the [just-unjust war] theory never worked. It never applied to a single war in history. It never deterred a single war.” Why not? “Just-unjust war theory assumes that war on one side will be just and on the other side unjust; this never happens. The theory allows each nation to judge its own cause”​—favorably, of course.

Birds or Rats?

◆ Japan’s Miyake Island recently faced an apparent choice of being overrun by rats or losing the rare wild birds that find sanctuary there. The 5,000 islanders are being besieged by eight times that many rats, which they say are destroying a third of the island’s farm products. They want to introduce yellow weasels from nearby Hachijo Island to kill the rats. This method had already proved successful on Hachijo and other islands. But bird protection organizations were strongly opposed, since they feared that the weasels would have a taste for rare birds as well as for common rats.

Male-Female Longevity

◆ Are women inherently more long-lived than men? Though statistics show that women do live years longer, a report recently published in the Illinois Lung Association’s Journal of Breathing asserts that to conclude that women’s longevity is inherent is “nonsense.” Why? Because the study indicates that both men and women live an average of 75 to 76 years if they do not smoke. The study predicted that average female life-spans will fall as the trend to more smoking among women continues in the years ahead.

Living to Be a Hundred

◆ More than 19,000 Russian citizens are over a hundred years of age, says Professor G. Pitskhelauri, director of the [Soviet] Georgian Gerontology Center. By contrast, there are only about 3,500 centenarians in the U.S., according to the Census Bureau. Almost 300,000 Soviets are over ninety.

World Shipping

◆ In the last year, reports Lloyd’s Register, the capacity of the world’s merchant shipping has grown by 10 percent. Now it is twice the size of the 1966 global fleet. Liberia has the largest merchant fleet, followed by Japan, with less than two thirds the capacity. Next come Britain, Norway, Greece, Russia and the United States, in that order. The Soviet Union’s fleet of giant fishing trawlers is well over twice as big as those of all other countries combined (643 ships compared with 259), and Russia now controls more than a third of the world’s 18,217 fishing vessels.

“Wedded” to the Gods

◆ The Bombay, India, Free Press Journal reports that “in the temples of Southern Maharashtra alone there are nearly 250,000 ‘Devdasis,’ women supposedly ‘wedded’ to deities but in reality forced into direct or indirect forms of prostitution . . . At least 9,000 ‘minor’ girls are being inducted into the ‘profession’ annually in temples in the nine districts of Maharashtra and Karnataka.” Now a government probe into this “nefarious tradition” is being urged. But, the Journal notes, “legislative enactments alone cannot put an end to ‘traditions,’ which have a religious sanction in the eyes of the people.”

Greatest Magnifier

◆ Tokyo University’s Engineering Research Institute recently unveiled an electron microscope that can magnify 500,000 times, “the greatest in the world,” according to the Daily Yomiuri. The microscope was said to be able to magnify the “eye of a needle to the size of the Korakuen Stadium.” A single person can operate it.

Legalizing Witch Doctors

◆ A parliamentary debate recently occurred in Papua New Guinea over the matter of licensing local witch doctors. One member, who warned against charlatans that bilk people with fraudulent sorcery, suggested licensing legitimate witch doctors with proved powers. Another observed that, since most tribes consider their witch doctors to be the best, licensing would be a difficult matter.

Tree-climbing Dog

◆ A combination German shepherd and husky puppy often played with a domesticated squirrel in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The dog learned climbing from the squirrel. Now grown, she “easily walks up branches as high as 40 feet [12 meters] off the ground,” reports the New York Times. Her owner had to obtain a permit for the dog’s tree-climbing activities from the Park Department.

Divorce World Wide

◆ How do nations of the world compare as to divorce rates? Sweden tops the list, with 60 divorces for 100 marriages. The U.S. is next, with 44, followed by the Dominican Republic, 43; Denmark, 39; East Germany, England and Libya, 30; U.S.S.R., 28. Iran, Japan and France are near the bottom of the list, with just 10.

Can You Find Bible Verses?

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Comprehensive Concordance of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures

How Good News Reached Southern Africa

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